This invention relates to a Y-shaped rear brace for increasing bending and torsional rigidity of a body structure.
In body structures for motor vehicles, generally, a shear panel, a supporting trunk floor orxe2x80x94if the spare tire is stored in the rear area of the structuresxe2x80x94an indentation for the spare tire is incorporated in the rear area; each such element forms a supporting component that is arranged between the cross support, the rear cross support and the right and left longitudinal supports.
If, for design considerations, e.g. for weight reduction purposes, the shear panel or the trunk floor are eliminated, or if the indentation for the spare tire or the trunk floor is to be designed as a non-supporting component, e.g. out of plastic, the static and dynamic bending and torsional rigidity of the vehicle is lost.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide sufficient static and dynamic bending and torsional rigidity in a vehicle without a supporting trunk floor.
A Y-shaped rear brace pursuant to the invention offers the advantage that this measure leads to a considerable increase in the static and dynamic bending and torsional rigidity with minimal weight effect.
Due to the features reflected in the dependent claims, beneficial embodiments of the rear brace are possible.
In particular, it is beneficial when the receiving bracket forms a roughly triangular carrier or an alternative receiving design arranged crosswise to the longitudinal direction of the body structure. Such a receiving bracket can be manufactured easily and simply and can be easily incorporated in the body structure, especially when, pursuant to one embodiment, its tip is directed toward the floor of the body structure.
When the cross support and the upper side of the triangular receiving bracket are arranged substantially in one plane, a largely horizontal plane fastening surface, to which e.g. the indentation for the spare tire can be attached, beneficially results.
In order to achieve a high level of rigidity, the support extends from the center of the cross support to the tip of the triangular receiving bracket and finds support in a beam through a tension/compression bar, respectively.
When the two tension or compression bars are supported in the area of the tip of the triangular receiving bracket, the forces that are introduced from the support, which is supported basically in the same area, can be safely distributed throughout the body structure.
To prevent the tension or compression rods from collapsing, they can beneficially find support, especially in their centers, in a support on the body structure.
Further advantages and features of the present invention are described in the following detailed description of examples of a rear brace pursuant to the invention and by referring to the attached drawings.